Stuck in a Snowstorm
by Namizuko
Summary: Sakura is getting married this winter and Naruto and Sasuke hadn't seen each other in over two years. They both plan on attending the wedding alone, but a meeting at the grocery store leaves Sasuke wanting to confront Naruto with his feelings. Stuck in a car, awkward and cold, what will happen to them and will they arrive at the wedding before the snowstorm hits?


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!

 **Note:** I know this is set in November, but I just felt like writing this, I've had this idea for so long know. So if you miss winter, this might help you cope with the summer heat, lol. Also, I'm really sorry about any mistakes and especially the going back and forth between past and present time... _

This is going to be a two shot, I'm already on the next and last chapter, but some nice reviews wouldn't hurt - I also appreciate constructive criticism.

 **About the rating:** It is rated mature for a reason. This chapter only contains some explicit language, but the next will contain smut!

The rain was pouring down outside, gaining momentum the exact moment Naruto had to leave for work. _Just perfect_ , he thought as he gathered his things and packed down his studio. He rummaged through his backpack and to his luck, found an umbrella. He opened the umbrella just before exiting the apartment complex. The raindrops were big and heavy and almost pierced through the worn-out umbrella. Another thing he had to get fixed in his life. Thankfully the walk from his studio to the parking lot wasn't that long - just a ten minute walk. It felt like time had stopped or seriously slowed down, as he walked to his car. He was flat out tired, drained actually. He was just waiting for the time to pass, so he could get home and relax. Work had been killer these past months and he missed having more time to himself. Normally he enjoyed his work, creating feelings of love, curiousness and passion through the strokes of colors as he painted on a blank canvas. Lately all the positive feelings he created turned into something sad instead. How could they not, when he wasn't happy anymore. Work had gotten more demanding because of his popularity and he had to deliver new artworks at a rapid pace which meant he wasn't passionate or inspired about the results anymore. He missed doing something that he actually liked and found interesting, instead of what others wanted him to do.

As he started the engine of his navy Kia Optima, he sighed deeply, looking forward to getting home. He felt his body relax as he drove in the pouring rain. It still puzzled him why driving relaxed him so much and he almost felt as if everything were going to be okay. He turned the heat up, kicking the windshield wipers to their highest speed setting while cranking up the volume to his old Nickelback playlist.

When he was finally home, he parked the car in the garage and entered his house in a hurry. He almost ran into the living room, not even bothering to turn the lights on and jumped into his comfy couch.

Suddenly, Naruto was woken by the sound of his phone. It was ringing, how long had it been ringing? He jacked up from the couch and answered the call. It was his mate, Kiba. "Did you just wake up?" Kiba asked shocked on the phone, while Naruto removed some drool from his right cheek. Naruto growled and hissed 'No' at his friend as he got up and turned on the lights and looked at the time. It was already seven. Had he been sleeping for two and a half hours already, _shit._

"Have you forgotten about our dinner? It's your turn to host you know…" Kiba said and Naruto could hear Hinata in the background saying something about cancelling. No, no, Naruto was not cancelling their usual dinner date. Just because life's been hard and he was miserable didn't mean he couldn't spend time with his friends. "Can you pick something up though, I totally forgot," Naruto said panicked, trying to get ready for the arrival of his friends.

In the short amount of time Naruto had before his friend Kiba and his wife Hinata were to arrive, he had put on some fresh clothes, set the dining table and also managed to tidy his house up a bit. The doorbell rang and he welcomed the couple inside, with a warm hug. Hinata was carrying the food and headed straight to the kitchen to arrange the food on plates.

"So what's up, man?" Kiba asked as he looked for something to drink in the fridge. Hinata was still busy with the plating, trying to make it look cute or something. "Not much, it's just tough you know" was all Naruto was willing to say at the moment. He didn't want to ruin their good mood.

As they sat down at the table, Naruto suddenly remembered that he had a good wine stored away. At least it was one thing he could contribute now that he had totally forgotten their usual plans. He opened the red wine, gathered three wine glasses and put it all on the table. He poured a glass to Kiba and Hinata and finally himself. They small-talked for a bit, and Naruto felt like he was watching their dinner as a fourth person. He wasn't really listening to what Kiba and Hinata were telling him, he was thinking about their happiness instead. How great they seemed. That's why he sometimes dreaded their dinner dates, because of their happiness he felt like a third-wheel. But after Kiba and Hinata had gotten married four years back, she had made it her mission to have Kiba and Naruto stay in touch. It also helped that Hinata enjoyed Naruto's company too. Ever since then, the group had had dinner dates alternating places once a month to stay in touch. Naruto liked the gesture and their company, even though he sometimes felt pitied, especially at times when he was single like now. Naruto took another sip at his wine, noticing his glass was now empty he poured another one. He now noticed that Kiba hadn't drank much and Hinata hadn't touched hers at all.

"Don't you like the wine, Hinata?" Naruto goofed and placed a friendly pat on Kiba's shoulders. Hinata shook her head and pushed the glass of wine away from her.

"Actually, I can't drink this anymore,". Naruto raised an eyebrow at her statement and thought about the reasons why she couldn't drink anymore. _Wait, is she?_ He thought before speaking. "Are you pregnant?!" he squaled and gasped. She nodded and looked deeply at her husband. Naruto turned his head to Kiba who just looked like a fool, clearly melting at her stare.

"Congratulations! I'm so happy for you guys!" he said in a warm voice smiling, trying to hide the suddenly feeling of sadness that overcame him. Naruto asked about the due date, their new life and found out they were having a girl. Naruto tried his best to keep talking, trying to focus on their happy news and forget his own dreadful life. Hinata reached out her arm and put her hand on one of Naruto's, trying to calm him down.

"It's alright, you don't have to force your happiness" she said while caressing his hand. Kiba nodded in agreement.

"Of course I'm happy! It's just that…" Naruto said, feeling the tears starting to build up. Kiba got up from his chair and gave Naruto a big hug

"It's alright, man. I know it's tough…". Unable to hold back the tears, Naruto actually let himself cry. He thought about the fact that his life were nowhere he wanted it to be. He was single and couldn't be with the one he loved. He cried some more. In front of his friends that had just told him they were expecting a child. And here he was, crying in front of them. What a bad friend he was, he couldn't even express his happiness for them.

"I really am happy. I'm just a bit jealous of your great life… mine is just a mess" he sobbed almost gasping for air. The couple tried their best to comfort him, telling him that it was perfectly natural and understandable that he felt this way. They kept comforting him until he had relaxed a bit and stopped crying.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to cry and ruin your great news." Naruto mumbled, ashamed of his behaviour although the couple said they didn't mind. They were concerned about their friend's well-being after all. Which is more than could be said about his longtime friendship with Sasuke.

Naruto suddenly looked up at his refrigerator and stared at the wedding invitation that had been hanging there for months now. It reminded him of his unsuccessful life and he sighed. Hinata and Kiba turned their heads, facing the fridge and finally noticing the wedding invitation.

"It's probably going to be a blast to see everybody again!" Kiba shouted and laughed. Hinata smiled reassuringly. The mood had finally started to lighten up, and Naruto tried to focus on happiness. On Hinata and Kiba's news and the wedding that he was attending next week. It was his friend Sakura and Lee's wedding and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why they had decided on a wedding in November when they were both clearly summer people.

Kiba broke Naruto's train of thoughts when he asked if he had talked to Sasuke recently. He hadn't. They hadn't talked or seen each other for two years. They used to be best friends, and Naruto would still consider them just that - nothing more, nothing less. Even though they had clearly drifted apart after university, they would always be best friends. They used to laugh and fight each other, but recently it had all stopped. Naruto couldn't exactly figure out why, but he knew it was hard to be around Sasuke when he was actually in love with him. That made it both easier and harder for Naruto to keep his distance, because it was clear to him that Sasuke was not interested in him in that way.

The next day, Naruto was feeling more refreshed and calm. The following night had actually been great and he had been in desperate need of a friendly talking to. Today was saturday so he could relax and just stay home. No work, no worries. Until he opened his fridge and realized he was out of milk, eggs, wholegrain bread and much more. Now he had to go grocery shopping, which he wasn't too fond of. Finally having written a grocery list on his phone, he left for the nearest supermarket. Because he arrived so early in the morning there wasn't a lot of people, which meant getting a parking space was easy as pie. Naruto wasn't really in a hurry, so he took his time to find the things he had written on his list. Making sure not to forget anything, he placed his cart in front of the fruites and vegetables without thinking much about it.

"What kind of dumb idiot leaves the cart right in front of the vegetables?" an irritated voice said, trying to get around Naruto's cart. Naruto didn't realize the man was talking to him, so he kept shopping.

"I'm talking to you, _usuratonkachi_ " the voice stated, more agitated now. Naruto turned around at the familiar sounding voice, not believing what he heard.

"Teme! What the heck are you doing here?" was all Naruto could muster to ask in surprise.

Sasuke thought that was a totally dumb and unnecessary question. "I'm shopping, and you?" he decided to ask in a dark tone while looking at the tomatoes. Naruto was slightly shocked, he hadn't seen Sasuke in over two years, and now here he was. He was just talking about him yesterday, that was so weird. He suddenly felt uneasy.

"Yeah, me too" Naruto nervously shoved his hand through his hair, trying to smile.

"Why this supermarket though?" the blonde said questionably.

"I normally do groceries here. It's good quality" the raven spoke while finally picking the best tomatoes.

Naruto was shocked by Sasuke's statement. _Does that mean we have been going to the same store for two years without running into each other? What the heck are the changes it was gonna happen today?_ He thought hard to himself.

Sasuke pushed Naruto's cart to the side, passing through to the bread aisle. Naruto followed closely behind.

"What are you doing?" the raven said irritated by Naruto's following him around.

"It's just been such a long time, how are you doing? We have hardly seen each other…" Naruto mumbled the last part. He almost couldn't remember the last time they had a normal conversation. Sasuke's words were always short and stingy. Naruto still felt nervous, but he couldn't let this chance pass when he was now talking to the raven again.

"Fine, just got a promotion at work" the raven coldly said totally ignoring Naruto.

"Cool. Everything's good here too" Naruto smiled and looked down, hurt by his own lie.

The raven walked further down in the store, to the fridge area that stored milk, eggs and yoghurt. Naruto was still following him and Sasuke wondered when he would stop.

"Did you get an invite to Sakura and Lee's wedding next week?" the blonde asked to make any form of conversation with the raven.

"Yeah" was all Sasuke replied.

"Are you going alone?" the blonde asked trying to keep cool. The raven just nodded without saying anything.

"Oh, me too" Naruto let out in a slightly disappointed voice, but he actually felt happy at the thought that Sasuke wasn't dating anyone serious to bring as a plus one.

"Look, I really have to leave now. See you at the wedding" Sasuke spoke while already heading for the checkout. Naruto just nodded, unsure whether he should be happy or sad by this encounter. Sasuke has seemed cold and like he wasn't interested in Naruto at all. He felt his heart sink a bit, realizing that his love would forever be unrequited.

Sasuke felt his heart beat fast, his pulse raising. He had just ran into Naruto, whom he hadn't seen in years. He was excited. He didn't really know why, but Naruto suddenly stopped talking to him when they were at uni together. They pretty much hadn't talked since. He had tried to talk to Naruto before their fall out, but he just wouldn't listen and he decided to leave the guy alone. If the blonde didn't want his friendship anymore, he would just have to accept that had he once thought. But now, seeing him again sparked those old feelings right up to the surface.

It was finally the day of the wedding rehearsal dinner, before the actual event the following day. These past couple of days Sasuke had been having mixed feelings about the wedding, actually just mixed feelings about seeing Naruto there. He felt himself get excited at the thought of his best friend, but also sad because he couldn't understand why Naruto kept his distance from him. Sure, Naruto still talked to him like nothing had happened but it was all superficial surface talk. Nothing deep, fun or personal like they used to. He had felt the change in Naruto's feelings towards him and he just had to respect them.

Sasuke packed his two suits, one for the rehearsal dinner and one for the actual wedding. He put everything in a backpack and headed for his car. He tossed the backpack in the car, frustrated at thought of his blonde friend being only that - a friend. As he sat in his car, about to turn the engine on, he thought of something. A way for him to figure out Naruto's feelings once and for all.

There wasn't much time left until Naruto had to leave for the rehearsal dinner. It was a six hour drive and it was lightly snowing outside, so he had better leave ahead of time. While Naruto panicked around his house, throwing clothes in a bag, the doorbell rang. Naruto couldn't possibly think of anyone that would come to his house this early. Curiously he opened the door only to find the raven standing before him.

Naruto was confused, certainly not expecting to see Sasuke before later the same day at the rehearsal dinner. He gave Sasuke a stare, before inviting him inside.

"What are you doing here, Sasuke?" the blonde asked in a confused state.

The raven stood before him, looking unsure in his posture.

"My car broke down and I was wondering if I could catch a ride with you to the wedding?" Sasuke asked in a cold, slightly irritated voice.

"Your precious Audi broke down? Are you sure that's even possible?" the blonde scuffed, not believing his friend at all.

"You do know it's just a car like any other" the raven stated with an iron look.

"But you probably take good care of yours. What's broken in it?" Naruto pushed with this line of questioning.

"The breaks. It can't break" the raven sat down on a chair at the dining room table.

"Well that's no good and certainly not in this season" the blonde said in a worried tone.

"So can I go with you or not?" Sasuke demanded an answer right away.

"Yeah, yeah sure. But how did you get here anyway?" Naruto asked a bit confused.

"I took the bus, dumbass" the raven stated like Naruto was a fool for even asking.

"Well, we have to leave now if we want to get there thirty minutes before. And it's snowing a bit, so we have to get a move on" Naruto suggested that they grabbed their luggage and headed for the car.

Naruto turned on the engine of his Kia and cranked the heating up. He connected his phone with the Bluetooth in the car, and found a good playlist. Nickelback came blasting out of the speakers and Sasuke almost had a heartattack. Naruto fumbled with the volume button and turned it down.

"Sorry" the blonde spoke nervously.

"It's fine. But who the fuck listens to this crap of music?" the raven couldn't help but make a snide comment on the blonde's taste in music. It hadn't changed since uni.

"Stop hating on Nickelback. They're awesome" Naruto growled and put the car in reverse.

"Sorry, but aren't all their songs pretty much the same?" Sasuke almost laughed.

"Maybe. But that's what I like about them too" Naruto hissed while driving out of his garage and out of the street of his house.

After that, there was pretty much silence in the car. Sasuke was unsure about what to say, he had just dissed the blonde's taste in music and he had no idea how to come back from that. He decided that for now, he would just try to relax and tune out the bad music as Naruto drove in the snow.

The snow was getting tighter and tighter, slowly making it harder to see the road ahead. Suddenly the music stopped because the traffic alerts came on. The weather forecast announced that the snowing was getting worse and wouldn't lighten up anytime soon. In fact, it would probably only get worse. They broadcasted on the radio that the weather would get real bad in the next hour and it wasn't safe to drive. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other nervously. They had only been driving for about two hours and were nowhere near the destination yet.

"If you can't see anything, it's better to stop beside the road and wait it out" Sasuke said, seriously hoping that Naruto would do just that because this was a fricking nightmare.

"I'm good for now. I'll keep going as far as possible until the weather gets really bad" the blonde grinned.

Sasuke thought that this wasn't something to joke about, it was about their safety most and all, not about whether they attended the rehearsal dinner on time.

They were only going 40 km/h on the highway, it was almost impossible to see outside. It was only possible to see a few meters ahead of the road, which wasn't safe at all.

"We have to find a place to stop, we can't seriously drive in this weather" Sasuke said worriedly while looking out the windows.

"Yeah, I know. When we reach the next rest stop I'll stop there, okay?" Naruto tried to sound relaxed and calm but his hands were tightly wrapped around the steering wheel, not fooling Sasuke.

In the next fifteen minutes that passed before they reached a rest stop, the weather had gotten much, much worse. It was not only snowing now, but also windy. This had turned into an all-out snowstorm. The whole rest stop was covered in snow and Naruto parked his car right in the middle, unable to see the parking spaces. He pulled the handbrake and put the car in neutral, letting his foot off the clutch.

"Why don't you turn off the engine?" Sasuke asked tired.

"Do you want to freeze to death? You don't know how long we'll be here!" Naruto almost screamed, trying to calm himself down a bit.

They sat in the car for ten minutes, no one saying a word. At least they were still listening to music, even though it was Nickelback. The silence was starting to eat at Naruto. He hated silence for too long. Sasuke didn't mind, he actually prefered it.

"Totally didn't expect this weather, eh?" Naruto said nervously, desperately trying to make conversation.

"It was in the forecast earlier this week, didn't you check it before leaving?" the raven said, while leaning his back into the seat, making himself more comfortable.

Naruto nodded, he did see the forecast, he had just forgotten how bad the weather was actually going to get.

"You are seriously the dumbest person I know to keep driving in this awful weather. Thank god you finally pulled over" the raven said in an irritated voice.

"Well, I didn't want to park the car in the middle of the road!" Naruto yelled, slamming his hands on the horn making it honk. Surprised by the sudden sound, he tried to relax his body and let go of the wheel.

"Sorry" the blonde mumbled, while he turned his head away from Sasuke.

"It's fine. I would just rather get there in one piece and be late, than end up in the fucking hospital" Sasuke said harshly.

Naruto thought about what he could talk with Sasuke about, but it had been such a long time since they had actually talked that he was unsure where to start.

Nervously he grabbed the steering wheel tightly and looked out of the windshield, not able to see anything from the snow that covered the car.

"How come we didn't take your car instead of mine?" the blonde spoke again before thinking it through in his mind.

"Like I said, the brake is broken. In this weather it's no good. I only have the handbrake to brake with" the raven sighed.

"How did it break?" Naruto asked curiously.

"You really are annoying, aren't you?" Sasuke stated irritated by the questioning.

Naruto pointed out that Sasuke didn't give him a proper answer, while he turned the heat to the highest setting possible.

"While I was driving yesterday the brakes suddenly gave out. I had the repair shop come get it early before arriving at your place" the raven flat out lied, but he had to roll with it.

Naruto nodded while looking at Sasuke. He suddenly felt unsure again, not knowing what to talk about. For a moment the silence filled the air again.

He wondered why Sasuke didn't say anything, wasn't he uncomfortable in this silence?

"So, how come you are going to the wedding alone?" the blonde realized he spoke out loud, trying to take back his words by gesturing that Sasuke should just forget that question.

Sasuke turned his head to Naruto and their gaze met.

"I just don't have anybody special in my life" the raven said frankly, feeling slightly awkward.

"Me neither" the blonde stated, while looking down into his hands feeling the awkwardness in the air.


End file.
